Safety mine-cage device.



I. MATTHEWS. SAFETY MINE CAGE DEVICE.

Patented-June Q}, 1918 4 suansqsmssr l.

J. MATTHEWS. SAFETYMINE CAGE DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.14, 1916- V 1,26,260. Patented June 4. 1918.

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J. MATTHEWS. SAFETY MINE CAGE DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 14, l9l6. Patented J mm 4, 1918.

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J. MATTHEWS.

SAFETY MINE CAGE bEVICE. APPLICATION "LED APR. l4. l9l6.

Patented June 4, 1918.

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JOSEPH MATTHEWS, 0F PLYMOUTH, SYLVANIA.

SAFETY MINE-GAGE DEVICE.

Application filed April-14, 1916 Seria1,1\l'o.91,1 60.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH MA THEWS, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Plymouth; in the county of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improve ments in Safety Mine-Cage Devices, of which the following is aspecificatiomreference beinghad llQrein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to a safety mine cage or elevator; attachment and has for its object the production of a simple and efficient means which will cause the mine cage or elevator to be automatically locked against slipping movement should the op erating mechan sm fail to; work, or should the supporting cable become fractured or injured in any way.

Another object, of this invention is the production of a simple and efiicient means whereby a signal isemployed upon the mine cage to indicateto theminers the condition of the cage, that is to say whether or not the same i Safe to travel upon.

Other obj sets and advantages of the prese in on w l app a hr u h ut h f l wing spe fic ion a d cla ms- In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a front elevation of a mine cag S o ing he af y tta hment avi the front shield plate removed therefrom.

ig- 2 is a s -he f the saf y at tachment.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3+3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. Fig. 3.

Fig. Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the trolley engaging contact nernber.

Fig. 7 is a sec fQl taken on line (e- 7, of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the trolley wire and supports therefor.

Fig. 9 is a detail perspective of the contact switch for controlling the lighting of th ign gh I Fig. 10 is a section taken on line 10-10, f ig- 1, a por io o he alve be n hown in elevation,

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4 iS a; Section takQI n line 4-4:, of

5 is a section takenon line5..5, of

diagr mm ic v e h n e electri lr ults invo ed co necti n wl h the pre en dense Fig. 12. is a section taken on line 1212, of 2. i i By referring to the drawings it will be seen that the usual side rails 1 are employed which support the frame or bar 2 upon the top thereof for constituting a means upon which the mine cage or elevator is adapted to travel. A plurality of brackets 3 are carried by the bar 2" and support an insulated sheave or pulley 4: over which a supporting electrical conductor cable 5 passesf This cable is connected to the usual operating means and is connected to; a source of electrical supply as will be obvious from the construction involved.

A safety device supporting casing 6 is employed in connection with the present invention, and a yielolahly mounted link 7 is connected at its lower end to the cable 5 as illustrated in Fig. hand this link 7 is provided with an enlarged head 8 and passes through a bearing portion 9 carried by the casing 01' housing 6. A coil spring 10 is interposedbetween the head 8 and the lower end of the bearing portion 9 so as to constitute a yieldable connection between the cable 5 and the casing 6.

The casing6 is provlded with a plurality of side rails 11, which s ide rails 11 are joined at their lower ends by means of the cross plate 12. A primary supporting bolt 13 is connectedto th ecross plate 12 and carries a coil springle which yieldably supports the cage 15. A plurality of auxiliary bolts 16 are also carried by the plate 12 and carry co il springs 17 and buifer plates 18 for taking up the jar of the cage 15 should thebolt 13 become injured or be temporarily nact ve,

The side rails 11 carry the rollers 19 which are adapted to travel upon either side of the side rails l of the track and also carry the transversely extending rollers 20 for traveling" upon" the inner face'21 of. the track 1. i

' The casing 6 is preferably provided w ith cover plates 22 and 23, and alsocarries a lower door 24. A tank 25 is supported in the lower end of the casing 6 and is supported upon brackets 26 as illustrated clearly in Fig. 4 of the drawings. This tank 25 is provided with an air inletvalve casing 27, which valve casing 27 carries a valve stem 28 which is adapted to control the entra c of a r through h sem n h tank 25. A squared end 29 is formed upon the outer end of the stem 28 so as to permit a wrench to be used thereon for the purpose of opening and closing the valve stem 28 to control the passage of air through the easing 27. Any suitable source of air supply may be attached to the nozzle 30 of the easing 27 for the purpose of admitting air through the casing and into the tank 25. Afterthe tank 25 has received the desired pressure of air, the valve stem 28 may be forced to a closed position by rotating the stem and threading the same into the casing 27 and upon the valve seat 31. A gage casing 32 is supported upon the tank 25, and this gage casing is provided with the usual graduations 33 to permit the amount of pressure within the tank to be readily determined by the indicating hand 34. The indieating hand 34 carries at its lower end a pro jecting pin 35 which passes through a slot 36 formed in the casing 32. When the indicating hand 34 has reached a point indicating that sixty pounds of pressure has been placed within the tank 25, the pin 35 will engage the insulated shoe 37 of the contact arm 38 shown in detail in Fig. 9 and cause the same to contact with the spring contact arm 39. The spring contact arm 39 is supported upon a bracket 40, and the arm 38 is supported upon a bracket 41. These brackets 40 and 41 are connected by means of an insulating bar 42 for holding the same in proper spaced relation. The arm 41 is elec trically connected to a signal light 43 by means of an electrical conducting wire 44 and a wire 45 passes from the light 43 to the cable 5 by being connected. to the wire 46. This wire 46 is also connected to an electro-magnet 47, which electro-magnet is also connected to a trolley wheel 48 of special construction described below, the trolley wheel 48 normally engaging the trolley wire 49. A. wire 50 is con nected to the trolley pole or wheel 48 and is in turn connected to the arm 41 andthereby completes the electrical circuit for lighting the lamp 43 as above described. For the purpose of indicating the different contact points in diagram, the contact point 38 has been indicated by the same numeral as the arm 38 illustrated in Fig. 9, and the contact point 39 has also been indicated by the same numeral as the contact arm 39 in Fig. 9.

A valve casing 51 is connected to the tank 25, and this. valve casing 51 carries a valve stem 52 which is adapted to be seated upon the valve seat 53 and prevent the escape of air through the valve casing 51 while the valve isin this closed position.

An armature supporting arm 54 is connected to the valve casing 51, and an armature arm 55 is pivotally secured to .this armature supporting arm 54 and is adapted to be held in the position shown in Fig. 3, that screw 58 carried by the overhanging finger 59 of the armature arm 55.

A coil spring 60 is interposedbetween the arm 55 and the upper end 61 of the bracket 54.

Apiston casing 62 is carried by the valve casing 51, and this piston casing 62 carries a piston head 63, which piston head is engaged by means of a plunger 64. The upper 39 end ofthe plunger 64 engages a cross arm 65, which cross arm 65 is connected to the link arm 66,'the lower end of the link arm 66 being connected to the transversely extendingshafts 67.

These shafts 67 carry ratchet wheels 68 at their outer ends, which ratchet wheels are prov ided with spurs 69 upon the periphery thereof, these spurs being so arranged as to firmly grip into the side rails 1 of the supporting frame or track for the cage. 1 The shafts 67 work in the converging slots 70 formed in the side platesll of the casing 6, and plates 71 are fitted upon the outer face of the side plates 11 so as to overhang the slots 70 and are likewise provided with slots 72 through which the shafts 67 pass. Rack bars 73 are carried by these plates 71 andengage the pinions 74 carried by the shafts 67. These pinions 74 by meshing with the rack bar 73 will cause the shafts to travel within the slots 70 and 72, and due to the fact that the forward and rear slots carried by the plates 11 converge, the spur or ratchet wheels 68 will be firmly jammed toward the side rails 1 which support the cage thereby firmly locking the cage against slipping movement should any portion ofthe mechanism become injured or broken.

As above stated, a trolley wire 49 is employed which trolley wire is engaged by the pulleys 75 carried by the pulley supporting plate 76. This pulley supporting plate 76 engages a supporting arm 77, which supporting arm is carried by one of the side plates 11 of the housing 6. A coil spring 78 is adapted to firmly hold the pulleys 7 into frictional engagement with the trolley wire 49 and present a firm contact Home with. i

The operation of the device is as follows:

It should be understood that should the light 43 be extinguished, the miner will readily know that the supporting cable has been broken. If the light is burning,-however, due to the contact made between the arms 37 and 39, he will know that the cage is safe. Shouldthe cable become broken while the cage is ascending or descending the electrical circuit will lmmediately become broken by the severing of the cable 5, thereby extinguishing the light 43 and at the same time deenergizing the electromagnet 47. By the denergization of the magnet 4C7, the armature arm 55 will drop away from the electro-magnet 47, thereby forcing the valve stem downwardly and pushing the valve from its seat 53 and permitting the air to pass from the storage tank 25 into the piston casing 62. This will force the piston head 63 upwardly, thereby drawing the arm 65 upwardly, which in turn moves the shafts 67 bodily upwardly and causes the pinions 74: and ratchet wheels 68 which are keyed together but loosely mounted upon the shafts 67 to rotate and by so doing, the spurs 69 upon the wheels 68 will firmly bite or dig into the sides of the rail 1, thereby bringing the cage to an immediate stop. The shock upon the car or cage below the casing 6 will be greatly taken up by means of the coil springs 14 and 17 carried by the supporting bolts 13 and 16.- It should be understood that a positive current may pass through the trolley wire 49, which wire is preferably supported upon the brackets 79, one of the brackets 7 9 being connected to a supply wire 80.

It should be understood that the present device which has been specifically described as a safety device for a miners cage may be employed upon elevators of all types without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is not desired to limit the present invention to miners cages for the invention may be applied to any analogous machine for constituting a safety de- V106.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new, is

l. A mechanism of the class described comprising a casing, a reservoir carried thereby, gripping devices carried by said casing, a plunger housing carried by said casing, a plunger working therein, means connecting said reservoir to said plunger housing, a valve for controlling the passage of air from said reservoir to said plunger housing, an armature arm engaging said valve and adapted to open said valve as said armature arm is swung to an operative position, electro-magnetic means placed adjacent said armature arm for normally holding said armature arm in engagement therewith and in an inactive position whereby said valve will be normally held in a closed position, and means cooperating with said plunger for throwing of said gripping devices to an operative position.

2. A mechanism of the class described, comprising a casing, a reservoir carried thereby, gripping devices carried by said casing, a plunger housing carried by said casing, a plunger working therein, means connecting said reservoir to said plunger housing, a cross arm carried by said plunger, link arms pivotally connected to the outer ends of said cross arm, a valve for controlling the passage of air from said reservoir to said plunger housing, means for controlling the opening of said valve, whereby said plunger will be moved within said housing, transversely extending shafts engaging said gripping devices, and being engaged by said link arms, and being adapted to be drawn upwardly as air is admitted into said plunger housing, and there by throwing said gripping devices to an operative position.

3. A mechanism of the class described, comprising a casing, gripping devices carried by said casing, a pressure tank supported by said casing, means connected to said pressure tank for operating said gripping devices, an indicator carried by said pressure tank, a contact means supported adjacent said indicator, means carried by said indicator for holding said contact means in a closed position, when the pressure within said pressure tank reaches a predetermined pressure, an arm supported within said casing, an electro-magnet adapted to attract said arm, a valve engaged by said arm and adapted to control the passage of air from said reservoir to said means for actuating said gripping devices, whereby said gripping devices will be held in an operative position.

4. A mechanism of the class described, comprisin a casing, gripping devices carried thereby, a reservoir supported within said casing, a plunger casing carried by said reservoir, a plunger carried within said plunger casing and adapted to operate said gripping devices, a bracket arm sup ported upon said reservoir, an armature arm mounted on said bracket, a valve casing below said bracket arm, a valve carried by said valve casing, a spring carried by said bracket arm, and engaging said armature arm and tending to move said valve to an open position, an electro-magnetic means engaging said armature arm and adapted to prevent operation of said spring, and thereby prevent operation of said gripping devices.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

JOSEPH MATTHEWS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

